Laughing Over Ashes
by Dark Papercut
Summary: Who I claim to be is not who I am. What if Natsu wasn't really Natsu, but someone else? And what if the real Natsu was in a guild that is one of Fairy Tail's rivals? Rated M for swearing, violence, dark themes, and other stuff. Mainly OC-focused. Current Arc: Grand Magic Games.
1. Chapter 1

I am a shadow of myself.

No one knows. They tease me and love me at the same time, not knowing.

I love them too. I tease them back. I pick fights with them.

The ice-boy and I fight. The red-haired demon breaks us up. Just a normal day, nothing special, nothing fancy. But something will happen. Something big. They will know of my internal self, not the shell I pretend to be. Not the happy, slight pink haired idiot. Not the one who always likes to fight. Just the one who picks fights to die, but stops themselves. The one who wants to die but can't.

The one who can only die by their own hands.

I go over to red-haired demon. "Cut off my hand."

She gives me a _what the fuck_ look. "I will not!" she yells, making everyone look at her in shock.

"Please," I beg. "I'll be fine."

"Hell no!"

"Fine!" I yell. I jump behind the bar and run to the kitchen. I hear the blonde mage yell, "Stop him!", but I hunt around the kitchen until I find a knife. It has a long blade and isn't serrated. Perfect.

They try to stop me. The tall dark haired man tackles me, banging my head against the stone floor. But my hand is now gone, lying on the ground.

"The fuck, Salamander," the dark-haired man growls, getting off me. I just lie there, staring at the cracked ceiling. "You have a deathwish or that kinda shit?"

"I want to die," I whisper.

"Huh?"

"I want to die, but look," I say, louder. The dark haired man stares at me for a bit, until the severed hand slides toward me and reattaches itself to my wrist. "I'm a monster."

The man glares at me for a bit longer, then leaves. He probably thinks I'm a monster too. I don't blame him.

When I come out, the red-haired demon, grabs the collar of my shirt. "Who are you, anyway?!" she snarls.

I stare at her hollowly. Why must this happen, why will this always be true, why must everyone know of of the boy I pretend to be. He was me, until the thing happened. Then I am like this-~limbs reconnecting and that shit. I hate it.

I really hate it.

"I am Ryu Apocs," I say.

I, Ryu Apocs, was known as The Boy Who Stands Over The Dead, and I hated mages, especially ones like this.

The red-haired demon drops me, shock in her dark brown eyes. "Ryu...Apocs...Someone get the Rune Knights!"

A carrot-top man zips away at a breakneck speed. Before I know it, I'm tied to a chair.

"How old are you, _Natsu_ ," the ice-boy asks, sarcasm lacing the word _Natsu_.

"12 of yesterday." His eyes widen the slightest. No one would think that a fucking monster that killed and laughed would be so young.

"Ryu, why do you have that ability?" the dark-haired man asks.

"I don't fucking _know!"_ I yell. "I just want to die, but this thing won't let me!"

 **Erza's POV**

I stare at the boy who pretended to be Natsu, the insane boy who killed, and the angry boy, who is angry that he cannot die.

The Rune Knights arrive quicker that expected. Ryu shrinks away from them, crying. His hair color changes from pink to ink black in moments, along with his eyes. He is not the Natsu I once knew.

"Jesus, kid, stop struggling. You'll die at this rate," one of the Rune Knights says while he's trying to give Ryu a sedative to calm him down.

"I want to die!" Ryu shouts. The man quickly shoves the sedative into Ryu's mouth, knocking the boy unconscious. He scoops up Ryu and the Rune Knights leave.

The guild just stands in shock.

"How-?" says Lucy.

"Why-?" says Wendy, sniffling.

"Everyone go!" shouts Master. "The guild hall is closed!" Everyone stares at him in shock. The guild hall doesn't really close this early!

~Fairy Hills~

I sit cross-legged in my bed, my head still spinning. _Who really is that Ryu kid and what happened to him?_

As if hearing my thoughts, the youngest dragon slayer pokes her head into my room.

"If you're wondering who Ryu really is," says Wendy, tears drying on her face. "I found some old records."

"Thank you Wendy," I reply. "Come on in." I pat a spot next to me on my bed. Wendy comes and sits. In her hands is a small file with the name _Ryu Sephtis Apocs._

"Eternal death," I hear Wendy murmur, commenting on Ryu's middle name. "Scary."

I pat her back. "Well, lets read this thing," I say. Wendy opens it with trembling hands.

 _Ryu Sephtis Apocs,_ the first page says (there are two pages). _Son of Layla Carrow and Justice Apocs._ There is a small picture of a boy with ink-black hair and a scowl. He looks like Natsu~-oh wait, Natsu never existed in the first place.

 _Lived in a small village near Crocus with parents, until the place was invaded by a dark guild. Ryu knew a magic called Hellfire, which is like Fire Slayer magics. He defeated the dark guild, but the entire village burned down in the process, killing everyone. Ryu, at the age of five, was found standing over the villager's ashes, laughing._

"Seems pretty insane," I muse. "Maybe he hated everyone." I glance at the picture of the angry boy.

"That's a possibility, Erza-san," Wendy says. We continue reading.

 _Ryu was taken away to an unknown lab, and his ability to heal fast (inherited from his mother), was vamped up to the extremes. He burned down the lab, killing everyone in it, at age of six, he was again found laughing over the ashes._

 _Ryu made more kills, until the age of around seven and a half, he vanished. At the same time, Natsu Dragoneel showed up at the guild Fairy Tail, being a fire dragon slayer._

"Huh, looks like the person writing this didn't wanna fill up the page," I mutter. "Well, what's on the next page?" Wendy pulls out the next page. The handwriting is smaller and sloppier, so I have to squint to see it.

 _Hey._

 _I have found something strange in Natsu's house, it is a small black topaz stone. I want you to look at it. It gives off some weird energy._

 _Gray_

"That's weird," I mutter to myself. "I wonder what that stone is?"

 **Ryu**

The man gives me no mercy. I like that. Even though he knows I'm a kid, he dangles me from the roof of a building.

"Wake the hell up," he growls.

Yes, indeed I am awake, motherfucker.

I swing my black fire-coated fist into the man. The Hellfire burns him to ash easily. I flip and land on the roof.

I gaze at the man's ashes.

And

I

Laugh.

It's beautiful.

* * *

Hey. This is my first fanfic, so don't flame.

This is not gonna be a very happy fanfic. I write dark shit.

~Darkness


	2. Chapter 2

**Ryu**

I've been running for days now. Days. I've burned down 5 buildings to see the beautiful ash swirl up into the blue sky. I hate blue.

I've chosen a different outfit. A plain short-sleeved black top and a pain of black cargo pants. I'm suprised that the red-haired demon saw through my disguise of Natsu. I miss that bastard. I miss Natsu-nii.

Uggh, I'm dizzy..no, wait, I'm falling. Everything's black. Save me, Natsu-nii...

 **Erza's POV**

~Three Days Later~

Everyone's still in shock. Ryu, being Natsu? Was Natsu ever a real person?

"Erza-san, look, we're here," I hear Wendy call out to me. I then realize I have zoned out for a few minutes.

"Okay, Wendy," I say. "Let's search through this house." We're at Natsu's, no, Ryu's old house in the woods to find that weird black topaz stone Gray had found a bit back.

I come up with the stone after a few minutes of searching. It's tucked away in a small box the size of my finger.

"I found it, Wendy!" I shout.

Wendy comes over to look. When she gets near it, her face pales.

"It's...full of death magic," Wendy gasps. "Mainly fire death magic."

"Huh," I say, surprised. "Let's go take this into the guild for Master to look at."

 **?'s POV**

"Huh?" I say when I see the small, dark-haired boy passed out on the street. "Is that-~no, wait is _is_ him." I bend down and pick him up, my dark cloak with the white shoulder sash swishing around me. "Jeez, you're frozen. Makes sense because we're both fire wizards." I heat my body temperature up a bit, and he relaxes.

I walk back to the guild hall. My guild, Shadow Dream, is a dark/light guild, so we're mainly left alone. I think the guild Fairy Tail tired to get rid of us, but failed so bad I laughed about it for the next week.

"Hey, Master, " I call out once I'm in the guild hall. "I found him." The old woman glances up from her book. The only people in the guild hall are Joy (an Illusionist), and Alex, an ice make wizard, Everyone else is still in their beds.

"Okay," she replies. "And take off the cloak for once." She returns to her book.

I carry Ryu up the stairs to the second level and to the dormitories. My dorm room is small, with a bed and a small hammock for my Exeed, Haps. He won't be back for a while, so I place Ryu in the small hammock.

"You know, I didn't die in the fire," I say to the sleeping boy. "I'm alive."

I shake off the hood of my cloak, showing my head and neck. The Shadow Dream's guild mark, a flaming infinity loop, rests on the base of my neck. I smile a fanged grin. My long salmon hair (which goes down to my knees) is freed from the cloak, which feels kinda nice.

"I'd wish you didn't impersonate me, Ryu," I continue. "Your nii-san Natsu hates that."


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back.**

 **This chapter is focusing mainly on the Shadow Dream guild.**

 **Credit to Gather in the Light for some of the OC's**

 **Review replies: I don't get why you think my story is retarded. Please elaborate.**

* * *

I stare at the sleeping Ryu for some more time, and head back to the main hall. More people are here, including the master's three kids.

"Hey, Natsu!" calls out Red. The redheaded re-equip mage waves from a spot where he sits by his brother, Gabirel. I don't think anyone knows his magic, but he's as powerful AF. "How was the mission?"

"Fine," I reply. Just then I hear an, "INCOMING!", and the other slayer, a small boy with dark skin and pale blue hair rams into me. This boy knows ice magics from Ice Make to Ice Satan Slayer (which is higher than Godslayer).

"I'm so sorry!" the ice mage says, getting off me. "I was just racing Katana, she's fast!"

"It's okay," I reply, laughing. "Katana is really-"

And _of course_ Katana rams into me next. She's the master's youngest child. Kat uses a similar magic to Ryu's, but the flames are purple, not black. The enchanted sword she uses hangs from a sword belt around her waist.

"Arrgh, I lost _again_!" snarls Katana good-naturedly. "Prepare to get zapped!" She gets off me and turns to the blue-haired ice mage (No one knows his name, so he's called AllIce), and pulls the enchanted sword from her belt. "Zapmode!"

The sword crackles, and Kat chases AllIce around the guild hall while slashing the sword. The sharpness depends on the mode the sword's in, and Zapmode is very low. AllIce will be fine.

"Where's Snipe?" Gabriel asks, his sightless blue eyes roaming around the guild. Snipe is a guns mage, who can also shoot from her index fingers too. She has very long pinkish hair and apparently has a crush on AllIce.

"Mission," replies Master. "Won't be back for a bit."

"And mom," Gabriel continues. "Dispel that stupid disguise."

Master groans, but dispels the glamour. In real life, she looks like an older version of Kat, with violet hair and golden eyes. "Better?"

"Better."

A loud bang comes from the guild entrance, and everyone looks. Standing there is a very bleary-eyed Eden Eto with Chaos magic wrapped around her fist. Her raspberry hair is in a sloppy braid, and she's wearing a black dress that goes down to right above her knees. Eden is Acnologica's blood daughter, therefore inheriting some Apocalypse Dragon Slayer magic and Chaos magic.

"Am I at the guild hall?" she asks, dispelling the Chaos magic and rubbing her eyes.

"You are!" everyone (minus Red, Gabriel, Kat, AllIce, me, and Master, which includes Joy, Alex, and Sayla) shrieks. Eden gets mad very easily and is pretty damn OP.

"That's good!" says Eden, perking up. She heads over to the bar area and sits. "Hey, Alex, do you mind getting me something caffeinated?"

Alex mumbles something in reply and hops behind the counter. After a few seconds, a terrified Alex comes bolting out of the room at top speed with Slicer on his heels. Slicer is a tall girl with silvery hair, who wears armor all the time. Her armor is usually a chain-mail blindfold that she can see through, a chest plate with the Shadow Dream guild mark on it, and a four-split black armor skirt. Her magic involves shooting daggers from her eyes (literally), and turning her hands into blades. She's using blade-hands now as she's chasing poor Alex.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" shrieks Alex, cowering behind me.

"You better be, you asshole," Slicer growls. "Oh, hi Eden!" she then says, forgetting about Alex for the time being. Slicer and Eden are dating.

"Hi, Slicer!"

Just then a loud bang comes from the door. Everyone looks (except for Gabriel). Suddenly a large group of people burst in, looking rather hostile. I recognize the guild mark that's on one of the people's chest. I pull my hood over my head.

"It's Fairy Tail!" shrieks Joy, noticing it first.

"I noticed," growls Master. "You guys handle this one." She spins and vanishes into thin air.

"Fairies," asks Kat. "Why are you here?" She draws her sword.

"Give us Ryu Apocs," says a small man who I think is the guild master. "Or we will fight you."

"You realize you got creamed last time," contradicts Eden, laughing and flipping the group off with both hands.

I swear a vessel popped in the old man's head.

"If there's a war you want, you'll get one," growls the old man.

"Sure!" laughs Gabriel. "I love wars!"

A tick mark appears on most of the group's foreheads.

"You're only getting Ryu over my dead body," I shout. No one (except for the Fairies) looks surprised.

"Let's get this party started!" Eden cheers. " **Chaos**." Her body starts to give off dark waves.

" **Colorful Hell**."

" **Requip: Shadow Armor**."

AllIce's body becomes covered with black snowflakes. " **Devil Force**."

The shirtless member of Fairy Tail gets into an Ice Make stance. Hmm..an Ice mage.

The rest of their group gets into various stances.

" **Hellfire Dragon's Flame**!" I shout, leaping forward and hitting the ice mage.

And the party gets started.

* * *

 **Yeah, the party's started.**

 **-Darkness**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yami here!**

 **Some credit goes to SakuraPetal91 for this chapter**

 **Aaand the disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, but I do own the Shadow Dream guild and Ryu.**

* * *

 **Erza's POV:**

The minute the cloaked boy launches himself at Gray, the battle begins. Gray gets knocked out from the blow, and Wendy goes to heal him. The cloaked boy notices and knocks her out too with the back of his hand.

The Thunder God Tribe goes to deal with the raspberry-haired girl, Gajeel goes to the boy with ice-blue hair, Lucy starts to fight with the armored girl, Juvia goes for the girl with the colorful flames, and the re-equip mage goes for me.

I quickly re-equip into my Titania armor and summon twin swords. The redhead's sword clangs into mine, and we fight.

Soon, I loose, and my armor is ruined. The boy kicks me down and goes off to the colorful-flamed girl.

Quickly requipping back into my default outfit, I survey the battle. The Thunder God Tribe is having a hard time fighting the raspberry-haired girl (I'll just call her Chaos). The blue-haired boy apparently is an Ice Dragon Slayer, and he and Gajeel are pretty well matched. Lucy is down for the count, and so is Juvia.

Huh, I just remembered something. I think when the violet-haired girl and Gray saw each other, their eyes widened. I'll ask Gray about that when he heals and when I'm

Shit! My arm! Forgot it is broken.

I get up slowly and summon a sword, in case anyone attacks me again. Suddenly, I notice the cloaked boy just standing there with his back turned. What even is he doing?

I make a split second choice and launch myself at the cloaked boy. But, when I'm about to slash him, a small figure steps in front of me. The figure is Ryu.

He looks a lot different. First of all, he's short, maybe 4' 9". His eyes are large and are gray and black, not squinty.

"No one hurts my brother!" he yells. I stop in mid-slash. Everyone stops in mid-fight and looks at the new arrival.

"Ryu.." the cloaked boy says, turning around. I can only see part of the person's face, but I can see some tears trickling down his face.

Ryu turns to the cloaked boy and hugs him.

"Explain," Master growls to Ryu and the cloaked boy. "Now."

The redheaded boy and a few other people ready their magics. I can sense that.

The cloaked boy picks up Ryu and holds him like he's a child (oh, Ryu _is_ a child, he's only 12 or so).

"Ah," says the cloaked boy. He pulls off his hood.

I gasp. His face has eyes that look like they're squinting, salmon hair, and Dragon Slayer fangs. Basically, a copy of the now non-existent Natsu Dragoneel, but with straight hair.

"My name is Natsu Dragoneel-Apocs. I'm Ryu's adopted older brother, " says the boy. "That's all."

Master just stares at Natsu for a few seconds, then turns on his heel and exits the building. We all trail after him.

"So, Natsu is a real person, and Ryu's older brother?" Gray asks. Most of the people that fought are in the sickbay now. I'm lucky, so I just get a cast.

"Yep," I relpy. "And you looked like you knew that colorful flame girl." I switch topics.

Gray flushes. "Well...I have seen her when I go on missions and such. She's nice. I think she might have a kid."

"A kid? At that age?" I question. "How old is the kid?"

"Umm...the kid's three."

"How do you know?" I ask.

Gray makes a point at falling asleep. I'll have to ask him later, then.

* * *

 **Now Fairy Tail knows about Natsu Dragoneel-Apocs! How are they gonna react?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yami has returned!**

 **So yeah, enjoy this and shit *runs out of witty remarks***

 **Disclaimer: Same as last chapter**

* * *

 **Ryu's POV**

Aw shit.

I just went all depression rage mode at Fairy tail.

Well, I'm at least with Natsu. But that bluenette is staring at me weird. Scratch that, they are all staring at me weird.

"Hi!" chirps the violet-haired girl. "Who are you?" she asks me, bending over to look at me.

"I'm Ryu Apocs," I reply. "And you?"

"Katana Lightfire. SS-class wizard. You're in the Shadow Dream guild."

"Nice to meet you."

"Same. "

The redhead steps in between us. "How do you know that he's not dangerous, Kat? he hisses gently at said female.

"He saved Natsu from getting sliced in half," says the girl who fought the Thunder God Tribe. "Lay off." She then turns toward me. "I'm Eden."

"Hi."

"Fine," huffs the redhead. Natsu doesn't say a word, just gazes at me with slight surprise.

After a few minutes, a violet-haired lady who looks like Katana appears out of _thin_ freaking _air_.

"Master!" shouts the bluenette. "We have a potential member candidate!"

Wait WHAT?

"Okay, Ilyaas," she replies, causing the bluenette's eyes to widen. "So, who is he? The short guy over there?'

!-!-!-!

After a sort of interrogation/interview thing with the blind blonde (who's called Gabriel) and the guild Master, I am introduced to the guild members by Master.

"Eden," she says, pointing to the raspberry-fudge colored hair girl. "Apocalypse Dragon Slayer. Chaos Magic user."

"Alex," she continues, now pointing to a slight brunette boy. "Ice Make user." _Like Gray..._

"Katana. Hellfire magic user and wielder of a magic item called Enchanted Sword," she says, pointing to Kat. _Same magic as me.._

"Slicer. Dragon Knight magic," Master says, gesturing to the armored girl. _Never heard of it._

"Ilyaas, formerly AllIce. Ice Demon, Ice Devil, Ice Dragon, Ice God, and Ice Satan Slayer." _Too many slayer magics. Head. Will. Explode._

"Red. Requip." _Same as Erza's.._

"Gabriel. I can't say his magic."

!-!-!

After Master introduces everyone, she turns toward me. "There are 2 absent people. Happy, an Exceed turned human, and Snipe, a Guns mage and Puppeteer magic user."

Natsu smiles at me. "So? Do you want to join my guild?" he asks.

I ponder this for a bit. "Umm..Fairy Tail probably kicked me out, so I guess so..."

As soon as I get the last word out, I am picked up by Kat and flung into the air.

"Gah! Fuck you!"

Kat laughs. "Well, I'm glad you joined, Ryu!"

"Thank you, now put me down."

Kat complies with my request and puts me down. Master hands me a guild stamp. "Here."

I take it from her and hesitate. The new mark would fell nice on my left shoulder, but...

Without a second thought, I press the stamp onto the back of my left hand and am greeted with a bright red flaming infinity loop.

"Welcome to Shadow Dream, Ryu!"

* * *

 **Sorry 'bout the short chapter. School's a pain in the ass sometimes.**


	6. Past Arc: Part one

**SO I've decided to a past arc for this story! It starts with Ryu's POV.**

 **Warning: swearing, slight yuri, violence, etc.**

 **Disclaimer: I don not own Fairy Tail**

 **Eden: Damn right you don't!**

 **Me: DON'T RUB IT IN!**

* * *

~3 years ago~

A small black haired boy who looks to be 9 years old stumbles as he carries the water bucket from the village well; his paper-white skin glimmering slightly in the fading sun.

"Awww, why don't they get it themselves?" I whine as I walk down the cobblestone street. "They aren't twice the size of the bucket. They're three or four times the size." Some water sloshes out of the bucket, soaking my ragged tunic.

When I gets to the small house, the creaky door is opened by a tall boy who looks to be about 16 or so with long pink hair and small black eyes, unlike my big black ones.

"Let me carry that, Yuu-chan," the pinkette says to the me, plucking the bucket out from my grasp with one hand.

"Thanks Natsu-nii!" I cheer, pumping my skinny fist up and down. I follow Natsu inside. The elder boy places the bucket half-full of water by the worn hearth, then goes up the stairs with me trailing behind him.

When the boys get to their shared attic space, Natsu takes my hands in his larger ones and looks at them, turning them over in the dim lantern light.

"Did Justice make you do this?" Natsu asks quietly. He never has referred to our sort-of father as his father.

"Yeah," I replied. "But I heal right away! Look!" I shove his hands in Natsu's face, the blisters from a few minutes ago almost completely gone, the skin closing up even as I show Natsu.

Natsu nearly falls off the small bed we have to share. "Whoa there Yuu-chan, get your grubby little hands away from my face!"

That doesn't help, as I pounce on Natsu and begin to tickle him. When we play, I call him Igneel, the fire dragon king. We have a full-on tickle war for a few minutes until Natsu picks me up and sits me on the bed.

"Ryu," he says, his voice serious. "You have to be careful. Don't tell anyone you're actually a four-hundred year old demon of Zeref."

"But you're E.N.D.!" I whine. "You're the big bad boss demon!" Natsu smiles, but the smile fades as he hears feet loudly stomping up the stairs.

"Natsu! Ryu!" calls Justice. "Come down!" The feet stomp out.

A few years ago, Justice had found baby me and Natsu and took us in, pretending to be nice. Soon he turned out to be a child-hating meanie, still making me call him 'Father' but making us work like..oh I don't know, dogs maybe? And hitting us. A lot.

Natsu takes my hand and we both go downstairs. A tall girl with a slight frame who looks to be Natsu's age with dark skin and hair the color of raspberry fudge wearing a black shift is standing by the door, keeping a distance from Justice.

"So for the last time," Justice roars, towering over the girl. "Get out of my godamn house!" Natsu grips my hand tighter, but the girl just looks bored, stifling a yawn.

"Nah," says the girl, stifling another yawn. The she notices us. "Go somewhere safe," she says to us, her voice serious. "NOW."

Natsu drags me beneath the stairs.

"Get out now you bitch!" Justice yells, raising his large fist and swinging around to the girl's head. The girl's eyes glow red.

"Storming Shield of the Apocalypse Dragon!" the girl shouts. A thick black (misty?) shield blocks Justice's fist and hits him back with a shadowy fist so hard his body falls to the ground with a thud. Dead.

"Hey, you two," she says. "Come with me."

"I have something to do," I reply. Natsu nods. We'd be planning this for months. "You might want to get out of the village ASAP."

-!-!-!-

The moment the girl exits the village, I unleash my Hellfire. It burns everything and everyone, causing screams as the people burn. After this, not even their bones will be left. Black flames lick the cloudy sky like the reaching out of hands wanting help.

"Ryu!" Natsu shouts. I see his face through the night flames. "Stop your fire! You have to keep sane. Please!" His voice cracks.

"Go!" I yell desperately. "Go with the Apocalypse Dragonslayer!"

I see the girl grab Natsu's hand as she runs. The last thing I see is my oniisan's face before I faint.

-!-!-!

Burn.

When I wake up, that's all I can think.

Everything will burn.

-Natsu's POV-

The Dragonslayer practically drags me around the woods by the village. Why did I have to leave Ryu behind..?

"If you're thinking about getting Ryu back," the girl grumbles as I finally start to run alongside her, "Don't."

"How-?"

The girl smirks, showing a chipped front tooth and very, very pointed canines. "The whole guild is trained in Mind Reading magic."

"Guild?" The darkness starts to set upon the land, casting a dark shadow on the girl's face. Her bare feet slap the ground, hard. I wonder how she can run like that. My own feet hurt.

The girl stops, and I stop next to her. She points to the right side of her collarbone, and I see a dark violet flaming infinity loop. "A mage guild. The one I'm in is called Shadow Dream. Do you think you want to join?"

"Umm...Sure?"

All I hear is a loud, "Yay!", before all the wind is knocked out of me. It takes me a few minutes to realize that the girl is hugging me, hard.

"Ange is gonna be soo happy!" she trills. Then she lets go of me and looks me in the eye. "I'm Eden, by the way. I'm also half-dragon."

I think about is for a bit. In all my four hundred years of life, I've never run across a half-dragon being before. "Cool."

"So let's go!" she cheers, and runs off. I follow her.

-!-!-!-

After running for a bit, we reach a small town. Eden doesn't stop until we reach a slightly larger building. There are a few lights by the door, and a old sign saying,"Shadow Dream," by the door. Eden pushes the door open and we go in.

The main area (or what I think it is), has a small bar area on the left side. The wooden roof is peaked at the top, with a small 6 meter square skylight in the middle, casting down a stream of sunlight into the room. All the other light is from the lanterns placed on the plain stone wall. Around 5 tables with a few benches attached are scattered around the room. I also note a second level with a balcony that wraps around the space looking down at the main area. A few doors litter the space there.

"Hi Eden-nee!" someone says, and a small pink-haired girl who appears to be 11 with two waist length pigtails tied with black ribbons and a graphic-print dress with black boots tackles Eden in a hug.

"Whoa there, Sakura!" Eden yells good-naturedly, patting the girl's head. "So Sakura, this is Natsu and he's gonna be joining our guild," Eden continues, pointing at me.

"Hi 'Tsu!" Sakura says to me, holding out her hand for me to shake. "I'm Sakura, but call me Snipe. I'm a Guns mage and a Puppeteer mage. Puppeteer magic is-"

"I know what that is," I reply, shaking Snipe's hand. Both girls look confused for a second, but then they appear to shake off their confusion and grin at me.

"C'mon, 'Tsu!" Snipe trills happily. "Let's introduce you to everyone!" She grabs my hand and proceeds to drag me off. Eden gives me a sucks to be you right now look, but I brush it off.

The first person we meet after we go up the stairs (I notice some more hallways) is a dark-skinned boy with spiky blue hair who I think is 13 or so. At first glance he looks to be wearing a dress, but it turns out to be some sort of white shift. The boy has bright green eyes, but he moves like a ghost (I've seen one before), and is barefoot. A bright blue flaming infinity loop is on the back of his right hand.

"Hey Il!" Snipe greets, waving a pale hand at the boy. He slowly looks up at us. "This is Natsu, and he's joining our guild!"

"Hello," the boy says softly (I have to strain my hearing to actually hear him). "My name is Ilyaas Michales. I was raised by the ice dragon Cryosi and know ice magic from Ice Make to Ice Satan Slayer to defeat E.N.D, who killed Cryosi 6 years ago. I joined the guild then."

I remember killing the ice dragon. I had meant to get Ilyaas (as I recall with guilt), but she stepped in the way and was killed. Dragon blood turned the slightly melted snow crimson. It's a good thing Ilyaas doesn't know I'm E.N.D.

I nod at Ilyaas and Snipe drags me away into another large-ish room. It has a bit more of a comfortable feel to it with a few couches placed around a low table. Two girls and three boys are all sitting there, talking and laughing about about some guild called 'Fairy Tail'. Stupid name for a guild, if I must say. They all stop and look at me. A girl with straight green hair who looks to be about 14 with big green eyes under large black-rimmed glasses speaks first. I notice the same flaming infinity loop in green on her left inner wrist beneath her black coat sleeve.

"Hey Sakura-chan," she says to Snipe (who doesn't appear to mind being called Sakura for some reason). "Who's the boy?"

"I'm Natsu." I reply.

"Natsu who?"

"Natsu Dragoneel," I reply, using the last name Zeref and I share. "And I'm gonna be joining your guild."

"It's nice to meet you," the girl says cheerfully to me. "I'm Joy, and I'm an Illusionist. What's your magic?"

I use the first magic that comes to the top of my head. "Hellfire Dragon Slayer."

"Cool!" the other girl pipes up. She looks to be about 17 or so, with big gold eyes and long violet hair in a high ponytail. She has a very boyish figure and could pass for a boy at first glance. A katana-like sword hangs from the belt of her brown pants (which appear to be a bit small). The flaming infinity loop that I think is the guild mark is on her left shoulder in bright violet. "I'm a Hellfire mage! Except the flames are violet and not black, which is weird…" Her voice trails off as she taps her chin in thought, the brightens. "I didn't know there was a Hellfire Dragon!"

"Me either," says the redheaded boy, who looks to be around 19. His neck length hair flops over one eye, but I see that the other is brown. A sword that looks to be a cross of a broadsword and a fencing saber is strapped to his back. I can't see the guild mark anywhere."My name's Red Lightfire. I'm a Requip mage. In case you're wondering about my weird name, my dad named me. My sibs got the better names." When he says the word dad, his voice tightens. A hateful expression passes the violet haired girl's and the blonde boy's faces, but soon passes also. Guess they hate their dad.

"Nice to meet you."

"Oh oops, I forgot to introduce myself!" the violet says. "I'm Katana Lightfire! And no making fun of my name either!" she says sharply.

"I think your name is cool," I say, then mentally slap myself for sounding like an idiot.

"Thank you!" she says happily. I soon find myself in a bone-crushing hug.

"Kat-nee!" yells Snipe. "Let go of Natsu because you are going to break all of his bones!" She tries to pull Kat off me.  
"Sorry," Kat tells me, letting go of me. In contrast she doesn't look sorry at all, her golden eyes twinkling.

"I'm Gabriel Lightfire," the blonde who appears to be in his early twenties says, startling me. His blue eyes are clouded, leaving me to the conclusion that he is blind. "I'm not going to tell you my magic because I don't want to." Funny, that. "I'm pretty powerful though."

"He's almost on par with Master Ange!" Snipe pipes up. I guess the woman Eden mentioned earlier is the master of the guild. "And Ange-san is at the same power or higher than the highest of the 4 Heveanly Kings of Ishgar!" Snipe is beaming as she is saying this, rocking back and forth on her heels excitedly. Gabriel just smirks.

Wow, I think. This woman must be pretty powerful. I do not want to fight her, even as E.N.D.

"Hey, Alex!" Kat suddenly says, tugging at the other boy's sleeve. He has dull brown hair and big blue eyes, and is scooting away from Kat. "Say hi!"

"Hi!" the boy (Alex) says nervously. He looks about the same age as Kat, now that I could see him better. The guild mark is on his right forearm in pure white almost covered up by the sleeve of his blue shirt. Two long, jagged scars run down his cheeks. "I'm a Ice Make mage." Alex then scoots away.

"Alex is just a bit shy," Snipe says tugging on my sleeve (she is 5 centimeters shorter than me). "C'mon, let's go find Ange-san. You need to talk to her before joining the guild, and I want you to join the guild." The last few words she said warmed my heart.

We go down another hallway, and run into another person-~I think. He looks to be about 4 or 5 years old, and quite tiny. He has slightly spiky blue hair (darker than Ilyass's hair) and two blue cat ears sticking out of his head. His face is vaguely catlike. A blue furry tail swishes back and forth nervously from under his black tunic.

"Hi!" he says happily. "I'm Happy, an Exceed turned human. I have Wings magic and Light Make magic! What's your name? Do you know what an Exceed is?" He is bouncing up and down, apparently very happy (name puns, much?).

"I'm Natsu Dragoneel, and yes, I know what an Exceed is," I reply calmly.

"Are you gonna join the guild?" Happy asks. "'Cuz I wanna have a partner and no one wants to be mine!"

"I am going to join the guild, and I don't mind having a partner," I say. I guess having an energetic little Exceed as a partner would be like having a little sort-of brother all over again. Happy will never replace Ryu though. "You remind me of my little brother. If you and he met, you would be good friends."  
"Where's your little brother right now?" asks Snipe curiously.

"Gone."

"As in dead gone?"

"No. He kinda lost it and I had to get away from him else he kill me. I hope I can get him back and back to his senses one day," I say sadly.

Snipe crunches up her face in what looks like concentration. "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Mentally relaying all of this information about you to Ange-san," Snipe says after a few seconds, unscrunching her face. "Saves time." I recall Eden telling me that the whole guild was trained in Mind magic, which includes telepathy and mind reading.

"Well still!" Happy says cheerfully. "I now have a mission partner! Now I won't be lonely!" He hugs me hard, but is doesn't hurt like Kat's hug. This was small and warm, reminding me on Ryu too much for my liking.

"I need to find Ange-san now!" Snipe tells Happy sternly. He lets go of me and leaves, but smiles at me as he walks away. "C'mon 'Tsu."

We head back down to the main area and down a semi-wide side hallway, lined with lanterns like the ones in the main room, these ones cast a reddish glow though. Some old but powerful magical wards are painted neatly on the wall, protecting it from magical damage. I guess the whole building is painted with these. I saw some painted outside and on the roof in the main room.

A little ways down the hall, I see what looks like Eden and someone else making out by the wall. I'm used to seeing people kiss, but this is downright weird.

"Umm….Eden-nee?" pipes up Snipe shyly. "Slicer-nee? Please don't do that now. I have a potential guildmate with me right now, and he looks pretty grossed out." Oh do I now?

The two girls spring apart and stand on opposite sides of the hallway, identical blushes on their faces. Eden is on the left side and the girl who I'm pretty sure is Slicer (who looks about 16 or so) is on the left side. She's wearing a simple black nonshiny metal chestplate with a silver guild mark on it and a 4-split chain mail skirt that is attached to the chestplate, like an armor dress (1). Her hair is a super-pale almost white blonde in waist-length waves, and she is wearing a black cloth/chain mail blindfold. Fingerless white gloves with ominous reddish stains adorn her hands

"By the way," Snipe continues, her arms folded across her chest. "Everyone knows you've been dating for 2 years now."

"Even Ange-san?" asks Slicer, frowning. The pinkette nods. "Shit."

"But she's fine with it!" Snipe says quickly while waving her hands around, noticing the look of dismay on both the girl's faces. "She actually thinks it's cute!"

"Whew…" Slicer says, pressing both hands against the wall in relief. Then she notices me. "Hey. What's your name and magic?"

"Natsu Dragoneel," I reply. "I'm a Hellfire Dragon Slayer."

"Nice," Slicer says. "I'm Saskia, but I would like to be called Slicer please, and I'm a Dragon Knight?"

"What's a Dragon Knight?" I ask. I have never run across a Dragon Knight before.

Slicer sighs. "Seriously, hardly anyone knows what Dragon Knight is. Well, A Dragon Knight is a fighter who can get the qualities of a dragon. I can get dragon scales for protection and dragon wings to escape. Eden can take the qualities of a dragon too, but it's because she's half-dragon. Also, Dragon Knights can summon weapons, kinda like Requip, and can shoot daggers from their eyes, like this." Slicer takes off her blindfold, revealing overly shiny silver eyes, and stares intently at the wall. Twin kunai-like daggers shoot out of her eyes and bounce off the far wall. Wow. She then reties the blindfold securely around her face.

"Also," Eden pipes up. "I can use Chaos magic. It's pretty confusing, but I can create chaos in its purest form. If I use the spell, 'Chaos', all of my fighting moves are so chaotic they can't be see, prevented, or stopped. If I interlace my fingers and stretch them up, everything that could possibly go wrong will go wrong."

"Okay, enough with the magic talk, oneesans!" Snipe says, dragging me off. "Natsu needs to see Ange-san so he can join the guild!" The small girl has a very strong grip on my hand as she drags me away down the hall.

We stop by a wooden door similar to all the others, but has a lantern that casts a dim shadowy glow on everything nearby hanging above it. The lantern gives Snipe's pale face an ashy tint. I look down at my hands and see the same strange tint.

"Just go in," Snipe tells me when I hesitate to open the door. "Ange-san won't kill you or anything." I pull the door, push it, and then realize I have to slide it to the left to open it. Stupid, stupid Natsu. Look at how the door's made.

When I go in (closing the door behind me of course), I expect the master to be some sort of old woman with a staff or something. Instead I find an older version of Kat sitting on a bench, but with shorter hair and stress lines on her face. She's wearing a long black cloak with the guild mark in gold on the left side, a knee-length grey skirt, and a black tshirt with the words, 'Burn Motherf#cker Burn', written on it in red. Definitely not what I expected. There are two bookshelves in the room filled with books and a slightly untidy desk shoved up against one wall with a window in front of it looking down to the front of the building.

"Hello," I say to Master. She looks up at me from her book, slightly confused for a second or so, then grins widely.

"So you must be Natsu!" she says, shaking my hand happily. "Nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you to," I reply. "So what should I call you?"

The woman shrugs. "Well, my name is Ange Lightfire, and yes I'm related to Katana if that's what you're wondering, but pretty much everyone calls me Ange-san behind my back and Master to my face. You can do the same."

"Okay," I reply. "So, may I please join the guild?"

Ange-san glances up at the ceiling in thought, then looks at me. "Sure! And Happy is happy, sorry for the pun, for a mission partner. You can stay in one of the spare rooms for free if you don't mind sharing with Happy. You're going to have to cook your own food and buy your own things with mission reward money. I keep some missions with me and some in the main area, so pick and choose which ones you like. If you want, you can even chose a S-class mission."

"Um, Master," I say, causing her to stop in her sort-of ramble. "I'm pretty sure I'm S-class."

"Okay then," she says. "Well, I don't really like ranking my guild members, but most of them are S-class or higher, so you'll fit right in."

"Thank you," I say with a little bow. "Should I get my guild stamp now?"

"Yep!" she says, rifling around in her desk. "I swear to god I put that damn stamp somewhere...Oh here is it!" Ange-san pulls out a small stamp and gives it to me. I stamp it on my collarbone and it comes out red.

"Thanks!" I say, handing the stamp back to her. I leave the room.

"Oh, and just a warning!" Ange-san yells at my retreating back. "I use glamours sometimes, so don't freak out...Too much!"

-!-!-!-!-

* * *

 **(1) Think of the skirt on Erza's Japanese cloth armor.**

 **This is part one of the past arc. Part two will be coming up soon!**


	7. Past Arc: Part Two

**SO here's part two of the past arc! After this the main story will pick back up!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

 **Warnings: This is where the M rating kicks in...mainly in trash talking (mentions of past rape, etc) violence, and swearing.**

* * *

 **~1 1/2 years ago`(Still Natsu's POV)~**

"How far away is Stone Demon?" Eden groans, slumping over in the cart. As all Dragonslayers do, she is cartsick. Also like me and Ilyaas.

"Uggggh.." Ilyaas groans, leaning halfway out the window. "Ask someone else.." He vomits outside the cart, causing someone to go "Ewwwwww!" Unlike Ilyaas and Eden, my cartsickness is just a very nauseous feeling, making me dizzy. Happy, who is sitting next to me, laughs.

"We only have to be in this god-forsaken cart for another few minutes," I say. A few minutes later three dizzy Dragonslayers and one giddy Exceed fall out of the cart.

"Here's the money, sir!" Happy says cheerfully to the cart driver, handing him some money. "Thanks!"

"You and your friends have a good day now!" the cart driver says, and drives off. Ilyaas curls up on his side. He still likes to wear white shifts, but with his hair longer, he looks like a girl.

"You can get up now," Eden tells Ilyaas, poking the Multi-Slayer with a boot-clad foot. She hasn't really changed her style since I met her. I have evolved into wearing a long black cloak with a white shoulder sash and wooden sandals.

"So we're on the side of the road right now," Ilyaas says, pushing himself off the ground. "And Stone's Forest is right there." He points to the thick forest in front of us. "Let's go find Stone Demon."

"Aren't they a dark guild?" Happy asks as we head off into the forest. "And aren't _we_ a dark guild also?"

"Yes and yes," Eden replies. "But Ange-san wanted us to do this, so here we are. Also, the Stone Demon guild is really corrupt and full of all sorts of bad people." She skirts a puddle at the roots of a large oak tree.

"Okay then," Happy says. "Now who's whose battle partner?"

Ilyaas sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I told you 10 minutes ago. Okay, it's you and Natsu, and Eden and I. Got it?"

"Hai!" we chorus. But I start to think.

"Isn't the guild master of Stone Demon suposta be really powerful or something?" I ask.

Eden shrugs. "Well, we'll kick his ass anyway!" We all smile at the violet-haired girl's optimism.

After a little bit more walking, Happy activates his wings magic and flies up to check to see if the guild is there.

"Yep," he clarifies as he touches down on the ground next to me, deactivating his wings magic. "Just ahead!"

Happy is right. We get there in a matter of minutes.

-!-!-!-

 _Good lord, this guy is really strong!_

After we beat all of the regular guild members, the master came out. He has close cropped red hair and leather armor.

Despite his simple appearance, he is actually really powerful. Happy's Light Make magic was useless against him, and the battle went into the air, the master propelling himself with wind and Happy holding onto me. Eden activated her dragon wings and flew up, and Ilyaas used Ice Make: Wings and flew up also.

"Take this! **Roar of the Hellfire Dragon**!"

" **Roar of the Ice Dragon**!"

" **Roar of the Apocalypse Dragon**!"

The tri-roar surges toward the man, but he just bats it away with his wind, causing the destruction of a nearby mountain.

The master yells " **Sky Make: Devil's Lances**!" and several arcs of pure wind arc toward us. Happy flies to the side, Eden flies down several feet, but Ilyaas's wings are destroyed, a gaping hole in each.

" **Scream of the** -" he starts as he falls, but the master sends a bolt of wind that knocks him to the ground faster. Ilyaas breaks his fall by catching a tree branch, but is in no position to come back up to help.

" **Chaos Spears**!" Eden yells, ten spears appearing and rocketing toward the man, making a screaming noise as they go. The redhead turns the spears around and sends them toward Eden. She doesn't dodge in time, and five spears impale each wing. She screams in genuine pain, blood pouring from the holes. Eden eventually falls, but deactivates the wings to stop the pain and so they can heal up and catches a tree branch.

"You know," the master says. "You're weak. You all are weak. The boy? He can't even create decent wings. Also, the ice dragon friend of his? She was weak too. Couldn't even stop E.N.D. Didn't train the boy well enough now. The chaos girl? Too slow. Also I bet she betrayed you, since she's the daughter of the most evil dragon in existence."

"Eden has _never_ betrayed us," I hiss. "She's been loyal to the guild and her friends ever since I met her. She was the one who invited me to join the guild."

The master smirks. "Well, I'm not done yet. Know your manners, boy. That Exceed that's helping you? He's not an Exceed or a human. Never even knew his parents. They must have hated him enough to drop him here. And he's useless. That pathetic Light Make magic? Didn't even touch me. Try and try again, you brat."

I feel Happy shaking from anger or sadness, I didn't know. "Natsu..please ignore this guy," he says softly, his voice thick with tears.

I start to get angry. "Don't you fucking _dare_ insult my friends that way," I say with deadly calm, my fists alighting with fire, which happens when I'm mad.

"Well, I'm _still_ not done yet," the guy says, sounding annoyed. "You know that girl, Saskia? She used to be so pretty. And kind too. Until the dragon showed up, and turned her into a demon. Her blue eyes turned silver, and her gold hair turned white. A monstrosity."

"Leave Slicer out of this!" Eden yells from her spot on the tree. "She is _not_ a demon!"

The man ignores her. "Now for that girl...Katana Lightfire. Tall, gold eyes, violet hair, right?"

I nod, my fists tightly clenched, the fire growing hotter.

"She is such a weakling. So is her brother Red. They wouldn't even fight off their father when he would beat them and do other things to Red, surprised the boy didn't get any STD or something. Their older brother didn't even do anything. I bet he even helped with some of it. Their mother wasn't even there for a lot of that. Too cowardly. I also bet that she still beats them."

Ange-san had told me about all of this in a straightforward, nicer way a few months ago. She told me the father was dead now. The fire gets even hotter, E.N.D begging to be let out.

"Oh!" the man says, pointing at me. "And you, my dear friend. You couldn't even protect your little brother. Some brother, I guess. I bet he hates you now. I bet you laughed when you let him burn. Also, he wasn't even worth two shits."

I snap.

"HOW _DARE YOU_ INVOLVE RYU IN THIS! I roar, feeling E.N.D pounding in my chest, my head, my fists even, its desire to fight surging through me. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" The man just smirks. E.N.D can take down this dirty fucker.

"Natsu!" Happy says sharply. "Calm down!"

"Happy," I say with a deadly calm. "Let go of me."

"No!" Happy says, clenching his arms around me tighter. "I won't let go of you! You'll fall!"

"NOW!" I roar in Happy's face. He flinches, but doesn't let go.

"Fine!" I growl. "See if I care if you burn in a blazing inferno!" Happy looks shocked, but soon regains composure.

"No! I don't care!" he yells.

"FINE! You'll burn until there's nothing left if you don't let go of me, you shitface!" I yell back.

"See?" the man says with a satisfied look on his face. "You don't even care for friend!"

The fire starts to cover my body, turning red as it goes. It touches Happy's hands and he screams but doesn't let go.

"Happy! If you care for me then let go!" I yell, my voice becoming distorted as I shift into one form of E.N.D. "Please!" The fire is covering his arms now. He lets go the moment I fully shift. Fire arcs away from my body, touching Happy. He screams and falls, his wings burned.

All of my senses fade. E.N.D takes control. I cannot see. I cannot feel. I cannot hear. I can only sit there in the darkness, waiting, praying for E.N.D to not hurt my friends. Even I don't have full control over this form of E.N.D. _Please!_

-!-!-!-

 **-Ilyaas Pov-**

E.N.D.

Is in Natsu.

No, he _is_ E.N.D. I watch as red flames completely cover Natsu. Happy falls, unconscious. Eden catches him and props him up against the tree trunk. The small boy's arms are badly burned and are still smoking.

I in awe watch E.N.D fight the master. E.N.D sends blasts of flame that meet their target (the master) every time.

 _Remember, Ilyaas,_ I think. _You vowed to kill E.N.D. Now's your chance._

" **Ice Make: Wings**!" I cry, icy feathers coating my back. I fly up to watch the fight better.

I cannot get near E.N.D. The heat gives off is like that of a furnace filled with Hellfire.

Soon E.N.D finishes off their target, burning him to ash with a flick of a finger. I see my chance.

" **Wrath of the Ice Demon**!" I yell, sending a spray of ice toward E.N.D. He turns and gets it face first. He growls, but I see I have made some damage.

" **Spikes of Ice Satan**!" I yell again, sending ice spikes toward E.N.D. I swear he smirks under all that red the spikes hit him, they turn into stone and shoot back at me. I cannot dodge.

-!-!-!-

 **-Eden's POV-**

I contact Ange-san and tell her about the situation. I swear to god her exclamation of "WHAT THE HELL?!" could be heard in Crocus. She did say she'd come ASAP and help calm Natsu down. When I told her the things the master had said about us and her kids, she flew into a bit of a rage before Gabriel calmed her down

I sit next to the still whacked-out Happy. The massive, ugly burns are still there, but his arms have stopped smoking. Good.

I fish out some bandages from my pack and wrap them around Happy's arms. Hopefully this way the burns won't get infected.

" **Spikes of Ice Satan**!" I hear Ilyaas yell. Oh fuck, if he got killed…

I sense someone falling, so I quickly abandon my post at Happy's side and catch what was falling.

It's Ilyaas. His green eyes are open and glassy, and then I notice the wound in his torso.

It's a hole about ⅓ of a meter wide, nearly cleaving him in half. A few smaller holes litter his body, one going straight through his heart. Blood turns his shift scarlet and stains my arms, torso, and legs as I hold him. Bits of gore are warm in my hand.

I scream, which sounds like the cry of a mournful dragon.

I dimly hear " **Demon Chains**!", E.N.D's surprised roar that turns into Natsu's scream which echos in my bones, someone's warm body pressing against me , and someone lifting Ilyaas's body out of my arms with another person helping me stand on my own two feet before I whack out.

-!-!-!-

 **-Ange POV-**

I walk over to Natsu's (E.N.D's) limp form. The chains reverted Natsu back to himself again. Most of his pink hair is burned off, and his cloak is shredded. The master of Stone Demon is nowhere to be found, so I come to the conclusion that E.N.D killed him.

 _Dammit Natsu, why didn't you warn us that you were E.N.D! Oh shit, I hope everyone else he was with is okay._ I pick up his passed out form, sling it over my cloaked shoulder, and go to meet everyone.

Slicer is helping/carrying Eden, who is apparently passed out. The Apocalypse Dragon Slayer is covered with blood and flecks of gore, which makes me very worried. She appears to be in pain, but has no visible wounds. I guess the wounds were on her wings.

Happy is upright and walking, but his arms are horribly burned. Parts of his face are burned too, but he seems to be fine. Wait, scratch that. Happy's crying.

Katana looks furious. She's holding a body with sky blue hair, which I suppose is Ilyaas. When I run forward to look, the small boy's chest is punched through with holes, which are bleeding.

Looks like I was wrong. Dammit. I quickly check his pulse, and there's a very small one that's fading fast.

"He's still alive," I say, causing the widening of eyes from all the conscious people. "I think I might be able to heal him-"

"Who are you people, and why the _hell_ are you here?" an indignant voice says. I turn around and see no one.

"Above you," says the voice again, and everyone (including a now-awake Eden) looks up. On the tree above us, balancing on a thick branch with a basket next to her, is a little girl. She has straight black hair that hangs down to her knees, dark skin, and the weirdest eyes I've ever seen (and trust me, I've seen a lot of weird eyes). The irises are a very sharp pink, flecked with green and red.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm Sayla Zachariah. Now who are _you_?"

After introductions, Sayla comes down from the tree carrying her basket. She then notices Ilyaas.

"You know," she says. "I can help heal him."

"Really?" Katana asks, sounding doubtful.

"Yes I can! Jeez." Sayla grumbles, walking over to Ilyaas (who's now on the ground because Kat put him there). She kneels down next to him and puts her small hands by his chest, and a pink glow emits from them. I go and kneel down next to her to see what's happening. The hole going through his heart is closing up, knitting together. After she's done, there's no wound or visible scar left.

"Now can you help me with the other one?" she asks me. I nod, and we both start healing the dragon slayer.

Soon Ilyaas is up and coughing, leaning heavily on Sayla.

"Can you explain to me what happened?" I ask him. He waves his hand dismissively.

"Not right now," he rasps. "When we get back to the guild."

-!-!-!-!-

When we get back to the guild hall, everyone crowds around us to see if we're okay (Katana shoos them off), and Ilyaas goes to the sickbay.

"Where's Natsu?" asks Ilyaas, glancing over my shoulder.

"In a spare room," I say. "I teleported him there. He's fine. Now can you explain everything that happened?"

Ilyaas' face tightens, and he starts to tell the story. By the end, he's crying into the pillow on the sickbay bed. I feel sort of like crying to, but I have a very strong sense of pride.

"So…" I say. "Natsu is E.N.D, and he transformed into that because he got mad."

"Pretty much," Ilyaas says. I leave the sickbay and go into the spare room Natsu's in. When I go inside, he gives me a slew of questions like _What happened_ and _Why am I chained up_ and stuff like that while sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Whoa there, let me explain," I say, backing up a little. Natsu huffs and slumps over as best as he can while his upper half is wrapped in chains.

After I explain, his eyes widen and he starts saying _sorry_ over and over.

"It's fine," I say. "Just control your temper better."

"Okay then," he grumbles. "Now can you take these chains off me?"

"No."

Natsu sighs. "Well, bye then." He turns and faces the window. I leave the room.

The minute I get into the main room, Sayla practically jumps on me. "I wanna join the guild~!" she trills, clinging onto my arm.

"Sure but please get off me!" I yell. Sayla lets go of me.

"Yay! I'mma gonna join a guild!" she cheers, waving her arms around and hopping on a table. Kinda like younger Katana, who would overreact to _everything_.

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Uhm..Six!" Sayla says after a bit of thinking. "Why?"

"Just wanted to know. And you're the youngest person here. Well, besides Katsua."

Sayla's small heart-shaped face crinkles in confusion. "Who?"

"Katsua is Katana's daughter."

More face-scrunching. "But isn't Katana 18 or something?"

"Yeah. And don't ask why she has a kid, 'kay?" I ask. "It's personal."

"Okay!" Sayla trills, running down some random hall. "Goodbye!"

I sigh. _This has been one hell of a day…._

* * *

 **Yeah, it's done. So be nice and review, please? *puppy eyes***

 **Ryu: GAAAAAAH! MY EYES! *rolls around the floor in fake pain***

 **Eden: Uhmm...**

 **Katana: That's so cute it's wrong dude...**

 **Katsua: Eeeek! *hides behind Katana***

 **Sayla: And here I was thinking _my_ eyes were weird...**


	8. Chapter 8

**So sorry for not updating sooner nakamas!**

 **Warnings: Swearing, one brutal threat.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, because I just realized human Acnologica's hair is blue and not white...*facepalm***

 **Side note: I don't ship Grayza (GrayxErza). Just sayin'.**

* * *

 **-Erza's POV-**

I decide to grill Gray about that girl.

"So, what's that girl's name?" I ask him while we're walking through Magnolia. Gray half jumps, startled.

"What girl?" he asks me back. I can tell he knows which girl I'm talking about, but I decide to humor him.

"The one in Shadow Dream," I reply. "The violet."

"Oh, her?" Gray says as we turn a corner to the market area. Sometimes I buy armor and swords there. "Well, her name is Katana, I think, and she's-" He breaks off and looks at the person ahead of us.

It's the redheaded requip mage that beat the crap out of me. He's just walking around, but Gray backs away from him like the boy has a contagious disease. The redhead doesn't notice us because he's looking at some old books one of the stands sells.

"What's wrong?" I ask Gray once we're out of sight of the mage.

Gray sighs and runs a hand through his dark hair. "When I last talked to him, he threatened to rip my private parts off."

 _Brutal._ "When did you last talk to him?" I ask, curious. Gray buries his face in his hands and hisses.

"Forget I said anything," he says. I nod at him, and we head back to the guild. Gray was acting suspicious, is he allied with Shadow Dream?

 **-Gray POV-**

Shit.

I need to watch what comes out of my mouth.

What if Erza found out?

She's good at putting two and two together.

 **-Snipe's POV-**

 _Why did I have to go on a mission with_ Happy _of all members!?_ I think to myself. Happy stares out the window of the train, completely ignoring me. _He's REALLY annoying most of the time!_

I fiddle with the sleeve of my kimono. It's black with a pink sash and fake pink blood splatters on it. I think it looks cool, but for some reason it scares small children (minus Katsua..I don't think she even notices).

"Hey, Snipe-chan?" Happy asks.

"Yes, Happy?" I reply, showing my annoyance.

"Um..is it just me or has that guy sitting across from us been stalking us the whole time?" he asks, pointing at the guy sitting in the booth across from us. The man across from us is tall, with a heavy cloak hiding his face. Yup, that guy has been following us the whole time.

"Oi, mister!" I yell. "Who are you and why have you been following us?!" The man flips down his hood, and I recognize him from something in _Scorcer_ _'s Weekly._

"Gildarts Clive, why have you been following us!" I demand. He raises his hands in defense.

"The old man told me too!" he exclaims. I know exactly which 'old man' he's talking about: Markov Dreyar.

"Why?" Happy asks, his tail twitching around in confusion. Gildarts smirks.

"He said that the miss here does assassination missions," he says. "And now I know she does."

"That man I had to assassinate abused one of our guild members in the past!" I yell, but then cover my mouth.

Shit.

Gildarts didn't even notice, but Happy stares at me wide-eyed.

"Which guild member?" he asks quietly.

"I don't know which," I reply.

* * *

 **Bad spot to end at, but oh well.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Warning: Lots of swearing.**

* * *

-Lahar's POV-

I can't believe I'm doing this. I glance at the ramshackle house on the outskirts of Morning Glory, a city voted, 'Worst city to live in', by Sorcerer's Weekly. Luckily, Doranbolt was able to teleport us right to the front of the house, avoiding the crowds in the town square. I think that was actually a gang fight or something, but I'm not sure.

"Are you sure?" Doranbolt asks skeptically.

"Well, it shouldn't be all too hard," I reply. "Just go in, ask her some questions, and leave."

"But-", Doranbolt gulps nervously, wringing his hands. "I heard that she tore some guy up."

I facepalm. Rumors about the Shadow Dream guild had been swirling around the magic council for a while, each one more gross than the last.

"Alright, I'm knocking on the door…" I reach out and rap my knuckles on the door a few times.

It takes about a minute for the door to be answered.

A tall girl with dark skin and red eyes answers it. Her eyes are bleary and her violet-pink hair is a mess, so I guess she was sleeping before we knocked.

"Who are you?" she asks blearily. Then the somehow perks up, recognizing our uniforms. "Any why the hell are you here?"

Doranbolt gulps nervously. The girl looks pretty angry right now.

"Your guild master wanted the guild to become a light guild, so you need to be interviewed before the final decision is made," I reply calmly. The girl shrugs lightly.

"Okay, but you're not coming in my house," she says. "It's a bit small." Doranbolt hides his snort with a cough. She glares at him, and his cockiness fades fast.

We both walk to the behind of the house and sit on the ground. She folds her long legs and waits for us to start asking questions.

"So, what's your name?"

"Eden."

"Okay..parentage?"

Eden frowns, her red eyes crinkling in displeasure. "Some people really don't like to talk about their parents."

Doranbolt looks at her weirdly."Uh...alright then. So, uh, how old are you?"

"I'm around 18 or so. Don't really know my actual age."

"Why?"

Eden shrugs. "Forgot my birthday a while back. Also I don't know what year I was born. Ange-san said that I looked like a 8 year old ten years back, so yeah."

I note something down onto a pad of paper. "Thank you for explaining that. Do you have any siblings?"

"I really doubt that," Eden responds. "If I did, my mom never told me. And I never saw any around the town or the house." She shifts her position so her knees are tucked up close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

"Do you have anyone not related to you that you are close to?"

Eden recrosses her legs. "Ah, most of the people in the guild. Excluding Ryu and Joy. Barely know Ryu, and Joy isn't a very nice person. She doesn't like Dragonslayers in general for some reason."

Doranbolt nods, then notices a spider on his knee. He shrieks and slips backward.

"Stop being such a wimp," Eden says, plucking off the spider and squishing it with one deft motion. "It's only a spider."

"But I don't like spiders," Doranbolt replies. I elbow him in the ribs and he straightens up. "Oh, sorry."

Eden shrugs. "It's fine. Do you have any more questions or-?"

"Yes," I say. "What kinds of magic do you use?"

Eden's face loses its cheerful demeanor and sinks into an anger. "Dragon Slayer and Chaos."

"Which kind of Dragon Slayer?" I ask. I honestly don't think I've ever heard of Chaos magic before.

"Do I have to tell you of all people?" she grumbles, tucking her legs up by her chest again. Strange dark shadow-like things start to seep out from under her, slithering across the floor. I start to feel angry, hateful. I get the sudden urge to punch Doranbolt in the face.

"Are you doing this?" Doranbolt says, fists clenched. Eden gapes at him.

"Oh my god," she says. Her surprise reins in the dark shadow-like things. "I'm so sorry." The angry feelings start to go away.

"What kind of magic was that?" I ask.

"Chaos."

"Alright. So what about your Dragonslayer magic?"

Eden's eye twitches. "I'm still not telling you." She sighs. "That's another thing I don't like talking about. Are you going to go now?"

"Yes," I say, getting up. Doranbolt follows suit. "Do you know where we can find your guild hall?"

"Pretty close to the center of the town. Shouldn't be all that hard to find. There's a sign. And most people here don't like the magic council." She yawns and stumbles back into her house, slamming the door behind her.

"I'm guessing that she's not a morning person," I say. Doranbolt snickers.

-!-!-

After having to sneak around through some very smelly alleys so we didn't get attacked or anything, we arrive at the guild hall. It looks like it's falling apart on the roof (shingles are falling off), and it's jammed between two other buildings. Strange symbols are painted all over the walls.

I stride over to the door and give it a few hard knocks. No sounds are coming from inside, so there might not be-

"Hello!" someone says brightly, opening the door. The person is a little boy with blue hair and a matching tail and cat ears. "Who are you?"

"We're here to see if your guild is eligible to participate in the Grand Magic games," I reply. The little boy frowns slightly.

"Okaaay…" he says. He steps out of the doorway and lets us come in.

At first I think that the little cat-boy is the only soul in here, but then-

"This is the last fucking time you're going to talk shit about my girlfriend you damn bitch! "

We all glance over to where the yelling is coming from. A girl with long white hair and a blindfold is yelling at a girl with long straight green hair and lime green eyes behind large rimmed glasses. The green haired girl is smirking, and the white-haired girl looks livid.

They continue bickering for a few more moments, and then notice us.

"Ano...that's Saskia with the white hoodie, and Joy with the green kimono," the little boy says nervously. "They fight like that a lot."

Joy and Saskia glance at us for a second, then leave in different directions.

"That reminds me of someone I used to know," Doranbolt says thoughtfully. "By the way, what's your name?"

The little boy smiles, showing slightly crooked white teeth. "I'm Happy!" I struggle to hide a smile.

"Now is it alright if we see the rest of the guild?" I ask. Happy nods enthusiastically and starts walking away. We have to run slightly to catch up with him.

When we are walking through a seemingly endless hallway, I feel someone tap on my shoulder. I turn around and come face-to-face with someone who looks almost exactly like Erza Scarlet.

"Who are you?" Doranbolt asks before I could even open my mouth. The person backs up, letting me see them better. Their red hair is cut short and they have a sword strapped to their back.

"My name's Red," the boy says.

"How old are you?"

"Around 21 or so," he replies. He turns and walks away.

"Does Red talk much?" I ask Happy. Happy shakes his head.

"Yeah, he doesn't like talking to people," he replies. We keep on walking.

Now we enter a large room nearly devoid of furniture, except for two slightly burned-looking couches.

"Angry Natsu," Happy explains when I ask about the couches.

"You mean the real Natsu or Ryuu?" Doranbolt asks.

Happy shrugs. "To me there's always been one Natsu and one Ryuu."

"Do you mind if we talk with your guild master now?" I interrupt.

"Sure!"

-!-!-

The master of what might be the strangest guilds in the country looks pretty normal. If violet hair and gold eyes is normal.

"Hello!" she says cheerfully.

"Hello," I say. "Is it okay if we ask a few questions about your guild?"

She sets down her book onto her already messy desk. "Alright."

"How long have you been guild master?"

"A while."

"Who was the previous guild master?"

She shrugs. "Some old guy. Made all his guild members insane and they all killed each other. It wasn't pretty." Doranbolt visibly pales.

"Was there anyone who didn't go insane?"

She frowns. "Just one person. Her name's Joy."

"You mean the one who was fighting out there?" Doranbolt asks. The guild master nods.

"Saskia and her always fight about something," she says. "Mainly the fact that Joy hates almost everyone in the guild."

I write something down on my notepad. "So, on a scale of one to ten, how well-behaved are the members of your guild?"

She laughs. "It really depends on the member. The most well-behaved is probably Happy, so 10, least well behaved is probably Sakura."

"Why do you think that?"

She shrugs. "One time she threw cups into the air and shot every single one. Destroyed every single cup in the guild hall. And shot Happy in the ear in the process. And also destroyed the skylight plus most of the tables with a rocket launcher."

Alright, that's a lot of destruction…, I think, preparing to ask another question, but someone knocks on the door.

"Hey, mom, do you know where Ilyaas went? He and Natsu were arguing and Ilyaas plugged up Natsu's mouth with ice again," someone says. The guild master sighs.

"Sorry," she says to us quickly. She gets up and leaves the room. I'm only able to see a little bit of the person who called her. The person has long violet hair and a katana held onto her waist by several leather straps.

We wait exactly thirty second before we hear a loud shout of, "I'M SORRY!", and then the guild master reappears.

"Sorry about that," she says. "Stuff like that happens a lot.."

"That's fine," I say. "What is your name?"

"Ange Lightfire," she replies.

"Is that your given name?"

"I think so."

I jot down something else. "Alright, thank you for your time, now we-" I am interrupted by a loud crash. Ange's eyes widen.

"What was that?!" Doranbolt asks.

"I honestly don't know," Ange says. "It could have been anyone." She gets up from her chair and opens the door.

"It appears that some people are throwing tables around again," she says after a long pause. "Might want to be careful leaving."

"We're teleporting," Doranbolt says, and we leave.

-!-!-

"Well, that was an interesting experience," Doranbolt says once we are safely out of Morning Glory.

"I agree," I reply. "The girl we first talked too, Eden, seemed very familiar."

"Why?" Doranbolt asks. Then he pales. "Oh shit…"

"What?"

"Remember, during Fairy Tail's S-Class trials or something like that, where they all got trapped for a few months?"

"Yes, that was something I wouldn't want to see happen ever again."

"Well," Doranbolt says. "Eden's magic really reminded me of the magic that Acnologica used. Or it could have just been me being paranoid or something.

* * *

 **I'm getting really excited for the Grand Magic Games. I have some evil stuff planned out...muahaha**

 **Shadow Dream guild: *sweatdrop***


	10. Chapter 10

**-Markov's POV-**

For some reason I feel like I'm not supposed to be surprised that the Shadow Dream guild didn't show up in one massive clump.

They showed up in one-or-two person groups.

I'm walking around, looking for them since I wanted to make sure they didn't do anything illegal, and I run full on into some of them.

"Hey," someone says. I look up and see a tall young man with blond hair and seemingly blind blue eyes next to a silent teen with red hair and brown eyes. I remember the blind one: he was present during the battle with Shadow Dream, but he didn't do anything. The surprising thing was that nothing hit him.

"What?" I ask.

"Watch where you're walking, you moron," he snaps.

"I'd say the same to you," I reply. He frowns.

"I got to go," he says. "I need to find where my guild is staying and I don't know this place well." He brushes past me and continues on his way, running into a few people in the process with the silent guy trying to help him. Guess that definitely concludes that he's blind.

The next Shadow Dream member I run into is a girl. She's shorter than the boys, and has twin pink ponytails that nearly brush the ground and a harsh scowl on her face.

"Hey, old man," she snaps, crossing her arms. "Why are you starin' at me for?"

"You're part of Shadow Dream, right?" I ask her. She nods.

"I haven't been in the guild all too long," she says. "But I can tell if someone doesn't like the guild, and you don't." She glares. "And I gotta go." She turns and leaves, her pink high-heeled boots clicking on the ground.

When I get back to where Fairy Tail is staying, the first thing I notice are several guild members talking with worried expressions on their faces. Instead of joining in, I decide to listen.

"The real Natsu is _scary,_ " I hear Lucy say. "I went up to talk to him and he told me to screw off."

"And he got mad at me when I asked him for a light," Wakaba grumbles, a cloth held to his bloody nose.

"That's just rude," Romeo says, frowning. "And I ran into some dude with blue hair who told me to get my ass back to the guild before he froze my feet."

"Oi, gramps," Laxus says, noticing me. He's alone, since the Thunder Legion is tracking Shadow Dream members. "You know where they're staying?"

"In the same hotel as Sabertooth," I reply.

"You mean the guild that got really big recently?"

"The same." Laxus smirks.

"I wonder how they're going to deal with them," he says. "I heard Sabertooth's supposed to have really powerful mages."

 **-Natsu's POV-**

Uuuuugggh.

I wish I was allowed to bring my cloak.

This random blonde Fairy Tail girl ran up to talk to me and began blabbing about Igneel and scarves, so I told her to screw off. Politely.

Then some guy with weird-ass hair and sunglasses asked me to light his cigarette. So I punched him.

I'm asked often enough by Sakura to do that. I would punch her too, but then I'd have to be her puppet and I _really_ don't want that.

"Hmm.." I mutter, glancing around the unfamiliar town. "Now where are we-"

"Natsu, you baka!" I hear Ryuu yell from right above me. "You're standing right in front of it!"

"Oh, uh…" Ryuu jumps down from his spot on a windowsill and joins me. He's wearing black cargo pants and a black t-shirt with slanted red stripes that covers the Fairy Tail guild mark.

"Oh, you know what!?" Ryuu says excitedly. "There's another guild staying in the same hotel as us!"

"Really?" I ask. Ryuu grabs my sleeve and drags me inside.

Turns out he's right. There's another guild in there. Their guild mark looks kinda like a tiger…

"Hey, you!" someone yells, running over to me. They're from the other guild, with spiky blonde hair and a vest with white fur trim. The guild mark is white and on his shoulder. "Are you Natsu?"

"Yes, and who are you?" I ask back. The boy smiles a fanged grin.

"I'm Sting, the White Dragon Slayer!" he yells enthusiastically. I wince at the volume. "And I'm one of the Twin Dragons! I'm looking forward to fighting you!"

"Uh, okay…" Sting's enthusiasm is making me uncomfortable. "I'm just gonna go now.." I start backing towards the stairs when I hear someone call my name.

"How the hell did you get here so fast!?" Saskia yells. The white haired girl is wearing a loose white hoodie and black pants with knee-high white leather boots, and her customary dagger-blocking blindfold. She looks flustered and also quite annoyed.

"I snuck around," I reply. Now everyone in the room is staring at us. Saskia grumbles.

"Well, at least you and Ryuu are here.." she says, then notices the stares in her direction. "What're you all looking at?!"

"You," a tall girl with black hair done up in some funny style with a black dress, black heeled boots, and makeup says with a smirk. Saskia clenches her teeth, and I sense a fistfight in the near future.

"Okay, both of you need to calm the fuck down!" Ryuu says sternly, stepping in between the two women.

Before they could come to blows, though, a loud, unfamiliar voice bellows, "Stop." Out of surprise, both women stop and glance in the direction of whoevers voice that was.

A tall, large man with a strange necklace made out of orbs the size of Happy's head steps out from the shadows in the back of the room. He also has white bushy eyebrows that nearly cover his eyes. In short, he looks very suspicious.

"Minerva, don't waste your energy fighting weaklings like her," he says. The dark-haired woman (Minerva, I guess) quickly backs away from Saskia and blends into the massive crowd of guild members. Saskia clenches her teeth.

 _ **Saskia, don't**_ , I mentally warn her. She glares at me, but doesn't go flying at the strange man or Minerva. Which is good.

"Excuse me," I ask the man with the weird necklace. "Do you mind telling me who your guild is?"

"We're Sabertooth," the man says. "And I am the master of this guild." Someone in the crowd claps, but I can't tell who it is. "Are you from Shadow Dream?"

"Yep," I say cheerfully. "There should be more of us, but I think they're-" I'm broken off by the door to the hotel slamming open, which draws everyone's attention.

"Exactly _how long_ does it take for someone to walk less than a thirds way across a city!?" Ange yells to no one in particular. There's a leaf in her short violet hair and some mud on her combat boots, but otherwise her outfit is as clean and neat as ever.

"And who are you?" the master of Sabertooth asks. Ange glances over at him. The man is taller than her, but she has a more imposing presence than him.

"I'm the master of Shadow Dream," Ange says. More people are staring at her now. "And you're the master of Sabertooth." The man frowns, like he doesn't like it when people make correct assumptions about him.

"Where's the rest of your guild?" Sting pipes up. There's an Exceed standing next to him now, a little brown cat with a vest.

"Getting waylaid by Fairy Tail," she grumbles, brushing something off her cloak. "It's probably gonna take them a while to get here…"

 **-Sting's POV (Evening)-**

"Honestly, the Shadow Dream people are weird," Yukino says, taking a bite of her food. Everyone else is eating in the hotel's dining room, including the Shadow Dream guild, but Yukino talks quietly enough so they don't hear her.

"Yeah," Lector replies. "They have this human-Exceed person-" he points to the blue-haired boy with the matching cat ears and tail "-and the rest make me uncomfortable."

"They have three Dragon Slayers," Rogue says. I almost jump, I forgot the Shadow Dragon Slayer was there. "Natsu's one of them." He points to the boy with the long pink hair in a ponytail who's currently shoving food in his mouth.

"Hm," I say thoughtfully. "This should be interesting." I turn my head back to my food to continue eating, but I hear someone yelling.

"That's not funny!" the Exceed boy yells, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. I see Master Jiemma glowering at the boy.

"You have no right to speak to me like that!" Jiemma roars. The boy flinches, and Natsu stands up, glowering at Jiemma.

"You also have no right to speak to my friends like that!" Natsu yells. From here I can see the tips of his ears are on fire. The flames are, oddly enough, ruby red.

"Natsu, calm down," the master of Shadow Dream says calmly. Natsu whips his head around and glares. "It isn't worth fighting over."

"Someone who reacts that badly to something so trivial is weak!" Jiemma thunders. Now it appears that another person is mad. From here, I can tell it's Ryuu Apocs.

"Ryuu?" Rogue mutters, leaning toward me. "He joined Shadow Dream?"

"Apparently so," I reply.

"Natsu isn't weak!" Ryuu yells. "He can totally kick your sorry ass if he wanted to!" Ryuu looks like he's going to lunge at Jiemma, but the tall girl with white hair grabs him by the back of his shirt and deposits him back in his chair. Ryuu grumbles, but goes back to stabbing at his food. Jiemma seems to drop the issue and returns to his table.

The room is silent for a while, but with a strange tension in the air the whole time. It's broken when one of the Shadow Dream members (a tall man with short blonde hair) suddenly jolts out of his seat.

"What is it?" the tall girl with the long violet hair asks, setting down her fork. "You okay?"

The blonde man shakes his head. "Nothing...just thought I sensed something." He sits back down.

 _Sense?_ I think. _Is that man one of the Dragon Slayers?_

"Gabriel?" the master of Shadow Dream asks, a concerned tone in her voice. "Are you sure it's nothing?"

"I'm not that sure.." Gabriel says, turning his head left and right. I only get a glimpse of his eyes, but I can tell they're clouded-which means he's probably blind. "I think that someone's angry with one of us.."

"Not surprising," the white-haired girl mutters. "But exactly _how_ angry?"

Gabriel seems to think for a bit, then replies, "Very. Practically bloodlust, from what I can tell."

"Well shit," the white-haired girl hisses. Now everyone in the room is staring at them.

"Do you know where they are?" a girl with green hair asks excitedly. "If they're mad at you, it's not my problem."

"Shove it," the white haired girl says angrily. "They're probably mad at you."

"Like I don't know where you go at night," the green-haired girl teases. The white-haired girl turns a bright shade of red, as with the dark-skinned girl.

"Joy!" the dark girl yells. "Can you not?!" 'Joy' just smirks. The white haired girl gets up from her chair, walks around the table, and kicks Joy off her chair.

"Whoa there, you all need to calm the fuck down!" Natsu says, but doesn't actually step in to physically stop them. The white-haired girl glares at him, but goes back to her seat anyway. Joy slowly gets up from the floor and wobbles over to her seat. The room is still.

-!-!-

The games are tomorrow, might as well get a good night's sleep. It's mostly quiet until I hear a loud crash from upstairs and someone yelling. Lector rubs his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asks sleepily. I shrug.

"I'm gonna guess it's a Shadow Dream member or something.." I reply. Before I could say anything else, something falls from the window and shatters on the street. When I dash over to see what the heck fell out the window, I notice the reflection on the shattered object: a mirror.

"Why would they throw a mirror out of the window?" Lector goes back to sleep while I ponder how strong Shadow Dream will be. From what I can tell, they'll be tough opponents to beat. Might as well have a little fun while I can!


	11. Chapter 11

**Fairy Tail is almost over and I'm SHOOK.**

* * *

-Red's POV(Next Day)-

I get up before everyone else, as usual. Today's the start of the Grand Magic Games, and I need to make sure that I don't make a fool of myself when I get there. Getting out of bed, I change into my normal clothes and strap my sword to my back. Just as I'm about to finish that, Katana taps me on the shoulder. She's all ready, so I wasn't up before everyone else. Oh well.

"Hey, Red, are you gonna be okay in front of all those people?" she asks me, concern in her shifting gold eyes. I've seen those eyes a lot in my dreams, usually full of tears or completely blank.

"I think I'll be fine," I say. "I mean, Ilyass is going out too and he's probably going to trip on something." Katana makes a small pfft noise behind her hand.

The main Shadow Dream team consists of Saskia, Eden, Ilyaas, Sakura, and me. The second team is Katana, Ryuu, Natsu, Gabriel, and Joy. The reserve member is Alex. Sayla and Happy are there for moral support, though Happy is skilled enough to be a reserve. But they don't let non-humans participate. Eden made a joke about how she couldn't because of her father, and Saskia flicked her in the ear and said, "You're participating to show that you're human and not a dragon, got it Ede?"

So that's what we're doing. Katana snaps her fingers in front of my face to get my attention. "Hey, Red, your glamour?" I nod at her and go to look in the bathroom mirror. The one in the girl's room got thrown out the window by Saskia, so I have to look over Eden's shoulder to actually see my reflection.

I pull the hair over my right eye away. That eye is green, while the other one is that brown color that made someone think I was Erza Scarlet a few years ago. The green eye makes me think of _him_ , so I pass my hand over it and it becomes a nice shade of brown. Eden glances up from where she's washing her face and glances back down, used to seeing me do this.

Around a half-hour later, we all head to the stadium. The waiting time passes like a blur, the only things I remember from that are Natsu wondering aloud how people are going to think about him since Ryuu was impersonating him and Ryuu telling him to shut up and stop worrying, Saskia juggling three knives out of sheer nervousness, and Katana rocking back and forth happily.

"And the other two teams that tied in second place with the previous guild mentioned, Shadow Dream A and Shadow Dream B!"

The light almost blinds me when I step out, and the cheering for the previous guild makes some of the people with more sensitive ears flinch. But, as soon as we're all out, the cheering stops and changes to confused muttering. From the crowd, mom flashes our teams with a discreet thumbs-up.

Suddenly, someone lobs a brick at us. It's aimed at Katana or someone near her, so I quickly step in front of her and get the brick right in the face. Stars dance in my vision and I fall to the ground, one hand held to the bloody wound on my face and the other supporting me so I don't fall all the way down. Someone else, probably from one of the other teams, shrieks. I look at the hand that was over my wound and notice that it's completely covered in my own blood. From the stickiness on my face, there's probably blood all over it too.

I can't hear what the winning team is through my blurry vision and distorted hearing (I think it's Sabertooth, the one we're sharing a hotel with), and the moment the first competition is announced, I black out.

I wake up in the stands of the area with Sayla's hand pressed on my face. "About time you woke up. Guess who's fighting?" I roll up slowly and glance down at the battle. Mom spares a quick glance at me, then turns back to the battle.

I'm surprised to see Sakura fighting against Erza Scarlet. Erza seems to be dodging all of the pink-haired girl's bullets, but that's not the full extent of Sakura's magic.

When Erza is close enough to slash at Sakura, golden strings shoot out of Sakura's fingertips and wrap around Erza's waist, lifting her high in the air and hurling her backwards so hard that the wall she hits visibly cracks. Erza gets up slowly, but the golden strings, now seemingly having a mind of their own, start whipping viciously at her, not giving her a chance to do anything but stand as the strings leave odd golden markings that apparently hurt, considering Erza's screaming. Judging what Fairy Tail is like with people hurting their friends, Sakura's in for a hell of a time along with the rest of us.

Sakura keeps making the golden strings going like that until Erza's eyes roll back into her head and faints. The announcer, with some sort of tremor in his voice, announces that Sakura wins the match. All the watching Fairy Tail members have their stares boring into Sakura, but she either doesn't notice or mind as she flashes a confident smile up at the crowd, who takes in the pink-haired twin-tailed girl wearing a strange outfit with shock and surprise.

-!-!-

When Sakura exits the arena (Erza gets carried out by some of her teammates who death glare Sakura the entire time), Sakura is immediately cornered by mom.

"Sakura, you seriously didn't have to knock her out like that," mom says, crossing her arms. "That was uncalled for." Sakura huffs.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Let her slice me in half? No thanks," Sakura huffs, crossing her arms and looking the other way.

"You could have just been put back together again," Gabriel counters. Ryuu looks confused, which makes a lot of sense, considering that he doesn't know Sakura that well yet.

"But that takes a really long time," Sakura grumbles.

"Oh, by the way, Fairy Tail now probably hates you," Ryuu pipes up. "They're really effing protective of their teammates, so you and the rest of us are in for a treat."


End file.
